French corporate taxes improve for 2013. Now only the 3rd worst in Europe

A recent report by Pricewaterhousecoopers comparing tax systems and rates across all countries for 2013 reveals which countries have the most attractive tax systems. Originally brought to our attention by LeFigaro, the report looked at each country in terms of how high taxes work (broken into labor, corporate, and social charges), the administrative impact of paying those taxes, and how many taxes a company in a given country must pay on the local, state, or federal level. The report revealed interesting conclusions, like how the overall trend of taxes in Europe & North American are dropping, and the average is hovering around the same point, ~43%, just below the worldwide average.The report also did something interesting, like ranking countries by their tax systems, essentially a ‘country competitiveness ranking’

France: “At least we’re not Estonia or Italy.”

Go ahead and change your motto from “Fraternity Equality & Liberty” to the above, France, because that’s how everyone else sees you. While the country falls well below the average on its Profit taxes – something that France often uses as the measure of its corporate taxes – at 51.7%. It has the highest labour charges in Europe, above Belgium’s 50.8% and Estonia’s 43.7%. Seen to the right, it’s pretty easy to see why the rest of Europe is referring to France as having an anti-business culture.

The overall ranking of countries, in which France places 53rd – a ranking LeFigaro seemed proud of in their article – factors in the 132 estimated hours it takes to file taxes and pay the 7 payments across EU & EFTA. These two figures are below the European & worldwide average, which may be the reason that France placed ahead of Germany (72nd place, with 46.8% taxes, 207 hours, and 9 payments), as well as Belgium, despite its high tax rate.

In all of Europe, only Ireland made it to the top 10 ranking, which includes the likes of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Singapore, and Canada (yeah, Canada).

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